Aggregated News
Promoters of California's stem-cell plan are now acknowledging that the measure contains great potential for abuse As a newly appointed committee moves to implement Proposition 71, the stem-cell research initiative approved by voters last month, some of its most effusive backers have become critics.
State senator Deborah Ortiz, a vocal supporter of Prop. 71, now says the voter-approved measure has gaping holes. In fact, Ortiz has introduced a legislative package she describes as "a starting point to provide public accountability under Proposition 71."
The legislation would force stem-cell grantees to make treatments affordable for low-income residents, allow the state to share in profits from publicly financed discoveries, protect women who donate their eggs for research purposes, and increase accountability for the committee charged with overseeing the state's new Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Such concerns were voiced before the election by women's rights advocates, fiscal watchdogs, and bioethicists. They said the measure lacked proper safeguards and might amount to a giveaway to the biotech industry without ensuring that therapies would be affordable or ethical (see "Cell Divide," 9/29/04).
They also warned...
State senator Deborah Ortiz, a vocal supporter of Prop. 71, now says the voter-approved measure has gaping holes. In fact, Ortiz has introduced a legislative package she describes as "a starting point to provide public accountability under Proposition 71."
The legislation would force stem-cell grantees to make treatments affordable for low-income residents, allow the state to share in profits from publicly financed discoveries, protect women who donate their eggs for research purposes, and increase accountability for the committee charged with overseeing the state's new Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Such concerns were voiced before the election by women's rights advocates, fiscal watchdogs, and bioethicists. They said the measure lacked proper safeguards and might amount to a giveaway to the biotech industry without ensuring that therapies would be affordable or ethical (see "Cell Divide," 9/29/04).
They also warned...
